Misunderstood One
by Opal Amari
Summary: Yes, I've written a Pokemon Fic again, and no, it isn't an insanity fic. Sorry. However, it's about a certain misunderstood Pokemon... oh just read and review. Thanx!
1. The Catch

(A/n) I always thought Magikarps were misunderstood, and on 2/5/02, whilst walking home from school, I thought this story up. It's about a Magikarp. If you haven't established that fact already, I pity you deeply.  
  
  
"Karp, karp, Magikarp," I called to my brothers and sisters. They continued to swim, above me, below me, in front and in back, to my left and to my right. Everywhere. I was in the middle constantly being pushed by my fellow Magikarp. We were migrating to a better place. To the other end of the Lake of Rage. It was what we did most of the time. We left our birth waters and swam to the area away from where the vicious Gyarados' lived.  
  
We crossed paths with a group of Seaking and Goldeen. They shoved past us as if we were seaweed. "Weak Magikarp," they seemed to say. "Why can't you stay out of the way and go back to the waters where weaklings are accepted?"  
  
Alas, this was common. Magikarp, they taunted. Weakest of all Pokemon. Good only for food.   
  
This wasn't true all the time. Our scales protected us from being eaten by most predators, and Gyarados' never bothered with their insignificant children. I barely remember my mother. She had laid the eggs and stayed by them until we had hatched. Then she led us to waters were we would be safe to swim, and then left us to fend for ourselves.  
  
I lost some of my siblings, but didn't notice much. Mostly they just wandered away; sometimes they went off with another group of Magikarp. It happened so often it became an almost everyday thing.  
  
I didn't mind the taunts, or the loss of siblings, but what hurt me the most was the Gyarados'. Huge, serpentine, powerful Gyarados. They could come and go as they pleased, swim where they wanted, fight all who challenged them. They were fearless, and they made their opponents cower at their glare. I had wanted power like that, to be respected instead of looked down upon. My brothers and sisters may have; who knew?  
  
But I had seen Magikarp who have hungered for power like that. They evolved, and the power took over them. They became ruthless Gyarados, and ended up disappearing.  
There was one Gyarados; the most respected one in the Lake. The Red Gyarados. He had been through much in his life. He had seen the Pokemon above land. He had seen humans. I heard him tell of humans, the creatures that caught and fought Pokemon. They trained their Pokemon to be strong. Like I wanted to be. Most of them were no match for a trained Gyarados, but those who had gotten too power-hungry...  
  
'What about a Magikarp?' I had wondered. Could a Magikarp have stood up to a human? But I had asked and no. No Magikarp had ever fought a human and won.   
I knew. I had tried fighting a simple Shellder, and even that I could not beat. I felt powerless; exposed. I wanted to survive, to become a Gyarados, but with a weakling like me, it couldn't happen. Until one day...  
  
I had been swimming with my brothers and sisters, trying to keep going, but my eye caught a sparkle in the water. I stopped swimming, which was stupid, because my fellow Magikarp pummeled me left and right, and I tumbled away from the school. Away from the brothers and sisters I had know all my life. "Wait!" I called. I tried swimming after them, but then the sparkle caught my eye again. I turned my head and spotted something shiny a few feet away from me. Curious, I swam towards it. It was a worm. I liked worms, and I lunged straight for the delicious morsel. But as my mouth clamped over it, I felt a tugging, and something clamped my lower lip. Before I knew what was happening, I was hoisted up... up... up...  
  
SPLASH! I sailed out of the water, through the air, and onto the soft grass. I gasped. Air! I needed water! My eye caught a creature standing above me, looking down on me with a frown.  
  
A human.  
  
"Alright, Peachy, Thundershock!" the human cried. A yellow creature leapt out in front of the human. A Pikachu, I think it was called. What was it going to go? Was it going to attack me? I wasn't attacking it...  
  
"PIKACHUUUUU!!!" The electricity hit me like a rock. "Maggggiiiii..." I moaned. The shock would have killed me had it not been for my scales. But I can only take so much pain. The world was getting fuzzy. "Okay, Pokeball, go!" My view was darkening, going black. The last thing I saw was the red and white ball streaking my way. 


	2. Retaliation

(A/n) Continued! ^_^   
Enjoy!  
  
I opened my eyes again to see the human looking over me. I looked around, and realized I was in a container of water. It was like my lake, but it was small. Very small. "Ugh," it said. "What a weakling. Can't take one electric shock." That word... weakling. The Pikachu said something I understood.   
"Well, it is still young and untrained..."  
"Looks like I'll have to train this fish up. Then maybe I'll get a Gyarados."  
The human looked back down at me. "Okay, I'm gonna name you DangerFish. That ought to intimidate the opponent, if not your looks. My name is Sophie. Better remember that, because I'm your trainer now."  
  
Sophie. This human was a girl. And DangerFish... my name? I had a real name, but it was a series of clicks and squeaks and Magikarp language, so it was incomprehensible by most ears. But it was still my name, and I didn't like giving it up for a name that wasn't mine. Still, it sounded nice... and then Sophie pulled out the red and white ball -the Pokeball- and said, "DangerFish, return!" A flash of red surrounded me and I was sucked into the Pokeball.  
  
I was first called into battle not to long after my capture. Sophie was challenged by a boy with a Rattata. I had seen them before, as Gyarados were commonly catching them from off the land for meals. But this Rattata looked strong. Could I handle it?  
"Okay, Rattata, tackle!" the boy called. The Rattata lunged at me and hit me in the side. I flopped around. The air was harsh. I hadn't been in water since the aquarium, and I was worried that my scales would dry out. Gyarados could live on land without water for a while, and I wished again and again that I was a Gyarados. And the nearby sound of running water did nothing to calm me.  
But then Sophie called out, "Okay DangerFish, retaliate with Splash!" I tried Splashing, but there wasn't any water to splash. So I just flopped there. "Okay Rattata, sand attack!" The Rattata kicked sand in my face, and on my drying scales.   
"Kaarrrrrp!!" I cried in pain. My scales were practically burning.  
"Rrrrrrrrrg!" Before I knew it, Sophie had pulled me out of the way. "Go Peachy!" Peachy the Pikachu sprang out and electrocuted the Rattata into submission.   
"Arg!" Cried the boy, as he recalled the Rattata. He then stormed away.  
  
Sophie looked down on me with disgust. "Man, this fish is useless! You'd better evolve soon, little fishy, or you'll be served with tarter sauce!" I felt a hard shove against my side and realized that Sophie had kicked me into the stream. It was like home again. My scales were moisturized and the sand washed away. I would have liked to stay here forever, but then Sophie recalled me. The last thing I heard her say was, "Stupid useless Magikarp."  
  
  
This was my life. Training and disappointment. I met Sophie's other Pokemon. A Flareon, an Ampharos, a Blastoise, they were all stronger and more powerful then I'd ever be. She, like the trainer, had a Rattata, but it had evolved into a Raticate. It told me its story. Like me, it had been the underdog when it was first caught. Through humiliation and suffering, it evolved, and Sophie began to love it. It was happy now. I understood now why Sophie was like that towards me, but I still didn't understand completely...  
  
Then came the day.  
  
It had been 7 grueling months of training and pain. My sides and scales were bruised with prints from Sophie's shoe, and battle scars. But I had at least learned Tackle. And I faced the cool, confident Seaking in front of me. I looked very proud, standing there with its horn gleaming, as if it would love to drive it through my vulnerable bruises. "Seaking! Go!" The Seaking fired itself at me. I fired myself at it. We hit and if it hadn't been for my tough scales, I would have been done for. But I outweighed the Seaking, and it went flying. Not defeated, but hurt. And then I started to glow.  
  
I could feel my fins expanding, my scales toughening, my teeth growing. I felt a sudden surge of power. Strength. Feelings I had not felt in my Magikarp body. My body elongated, and my color went from red to blue. And then I was hit with the anger. All the emotions that, through Sophie's training, had been blocked up came flowing through. All the sad memories of being a Magikarp; the taunts of the other Pokemon; the jealousy of the Gyarados'. Even the losses of my siblings hurt me. There was a part of the Magikarp me, telling me something... something distant in my memory... But I ignored it. I had other plans. And I turned my anger on the Seaking.   
But it wasn't there anymore. Its owner had recalled it and ran screaming out of the forest.   
"That's right, you coward!" Sophie laughed. "Run! You know I would have beaten you anyway!"  
Her? Beaten that trainer? No. It was not she. I was the one that had fought. Had I only gone through this rigorous and painful training to have her receive the credit? No. The bruises may have disappeared, but the pain remained.  
"Well done DangerFish!" She turned to Peachy. "Now let's stop by the Pokemon Center so we can drop this guy off in my collection on the P/C and catch some new Pokemon!"  
  
I wasn't hearing this. She only trained me to be a Gyarados for her own personal greed? For her stupid collection? I felt the hatred well up in my heart. And I roared.  
It is a great thing to roar. I let the world know that I wasn't going to stand for this. Sophie would not oppress me, and no one would! I was strong, powerful, fierce, everything I had wanted to be when I was a child. But now I was full grown. And I was ready to teach Sophie about pain.  
"Ahhhhhhhh!" Sophie cried as I towered over her, as she once towered over me. But now I was bigger. "DangerFish, return!" She called, holding my Pokeball out in a shaking hand. I laughed to myself and slapped the ball out of her hand. Shocked, she turned back to me. "Fine! Peachy! Thunderbolt!"  
Peachy the Pikachu threw a wave of electricity at me. It hurt, as I had twice the weakness against electricity, but I was stronger than as a Magikarp. Despite my bruises, I still advanced. And then I lunged.  
  
"AIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!" Sophie shrieked and threw her hands up above her, shielding herself and Peachy. Mouth open, I drew closer... closer...  
  
And then it erupted. The Magikarp me, what was left of it, the child me surfaced over my anger. And then I remembered. I had become what I didn't want to be. The Gyarados that had threatened my brothers and sisters. I had practically become Sophie. I had wanted to inflict all my pain on her, the way she had inflicted pain on me. But it wasn't who I was.   
I may have been a weakling.  
I may have been power-hungry.  
I may have been everything that wasn't me.  
  
But I was not Sophie.  
  
I withdrew and stood my body up straight. The cowering girl raised her head slightly. She was shaking. I would let her go, of course. Maybe she would learn from this. Maybe her next Pokemon would be lucky. Maybe it wouldn't. Maybe it would be as I just was. Maybe it would attack her, maybe it wouldn't. But I was not going to have anything to do with her anymore.  
  
'Go home...' the Magikarp me called. 'Go home...' Home. The Lake of Rage. I knew that other Magikarp would be like I had been. I had to teach. I turned away from the shocked Sophie and slithered home. Instinct would lead me.  
  
  
(A/n) Thank yew! I'm sorry this seems a bit rushed, but I had to finish before my parents got home. Sophie was named after this snobby girl at my school that I don't really like that much. Sorry if the story sounded too inconsistent, I apologize, but like I said, I was rushed. Later!!!  
  
And if you want to laugh, read my "Result of Lemon Drops fic." Ciao! 


	3. Ending authors note

                                                **NOTICE**

Hi, it's Hanni B again. Well, I deleted (or at least replaced) the third chapter. Most people seemed to hate it, and to be quite honest I didn't like it either. It really screwed up the flow of the story. I wonder why I wrote it…

            *Ahem* Anyway, I just want to say, again, thank you very much for reading and reviewing this story. I'm glad there are so many people out there who still like and read Pokemon stories, especially stories about actual Pokemon (rather than based off the TV show, or centered around trainers). You people are great, and I look forward to reading more Pokemon-centered stories written by other brilliant authors, and I hope I can scrounge up a few more ideas for some stories later on.

            As for DangerFish, well, I can tell you that you _will_ be seeing him later on in some of my more humorous fics. He's a special character to me now, and he'll rise again. But for now, let's leave him in this horrible-irrelevant-chapter free fic. Once again, thanks a billion to everyone.

            For now this is

            Hanni B

            TCLDOW

            Signing' off. Peace, love, and tuna.


End file.
